"[Collector Sydney dentist Peter Sheridan] has just published a photographic display of his radios in his book Deco Radio: The Most Beautiful Radios Ever Made in which he pays homage to the radios he describes as important icons in the history of art deco and industrial design."

This article contains a 6 minute interview and video of his collection:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-31/art-deco-radio-collection/5859074.

I just watched that film. It's an impressive collection.

I just managed to order a copy of the book for about $80.00 posted from the US. Don't even try to ask me how that is possible, since getting one from Australia is at least $100.00 before postage is taken into account.

Anyway, I am looking forward to that arriving.

$122 with post on ebay vs AU$90 from the states (on the first site I looked, no doubt a better bargain is to be had) is hard to argue with.

Haven't quite got the coin for one at the moment, although xmas isnt far away ..

Going by the quality of his last book, this should be a cracker!

Amazon has them for around $55 but that is before a huge postage cost, typically $25.00-$30.00 and a month of waiting for it to arrive. The Ebay option seemed a bit cheaper and quicker.

I have both versions of Radio Days, the limited edition version safely tucked away and was lucky enough to get the matching poster with the same release number as the poster. Deco Radio should complement Radio Days quite nicely.

Yes seen the collection on ABC --------it put me to sleep lol

Can get one from USA for AUD$76.83 free postage. 5-8 days postage
Peter

My copy arrived yesterday. I'm about half way through. Very nice so far.

Interesting that the collector's focus is exclusively on the cabinet design. The ABC story had not a single reference to any technical features or developments.

Not sure about the claim that console radios resided in the lounge room and were therefore under the exclusive control of husbands! Earlier radios may have been a bit more tricky to tune, so got more male attention. How many homes consider the lounge room to be a male dominated domain? Not mine.

Maven

Not sure about the claim that console radios resided in the lounge room and were therefore under the exclusive control of husbands!

Console radios resided in the lounge room because they were disguised as furniture so that She Who Must Be Obeyed would allow them in the house. In the advertising of the day it's common to see a male operating the thing or sitting beside it in an armchair while smoking a pipe and looking pensive, whereas mantel radios, once they came onto the scene, tended to be marketed to women.

It is a puzzling situation. It is generally accepted that the man of the house operated the radio in the lounge room (drawing room in older homes) though this room was traditionally decorated to suit women.

In the Victorian era it was commonplace in the large sandstone homes of the era for the formal lounge, or drawing room as they called it, and the formal dining room to be situated next to each other on one side of the central hallway and people could move from one room to the next through a connecting door or arch.

The dining room would generally be decorated with a masculine colour scheme: Indian Red, various browns and cream colours; whilst the drawing room would be decorated with feminine pastel colours: whites, yellows, greens and blues.

At the end of an evening meal attended by guests, the men would stay at the table and light their pipes and perhaps open a bottle of port. The women would shift to the drawing room and sip tea. The children, if any, were probably fed on the back porch and sent to bed - to be neither seen or heard, etc.

In years to come it is likely that the presence of the family radio (more of a scientific instrument than an appliance back in 1922) called for a change in how the drawing room was dominated. The man of the house, generally speaking, was the bread winner so its likely that he bought the radio, chose the make and model, discussed payment terms with the supplier, chose where it would be located in the room and would choose when it was turned on, how long it'd be turned on for and would also choose the station it'd be tuned to.

sitting beside it in an armchair while smoking a pipe and looking pensive

That's how I remember my grandfather listening [mostly] to the cricket on his 1930s AWA - but it was a mantel with a large polished-wood baffleboard speaker. It was also not in the best room (Grandmother's domain) but in a "living room" that included his desk and was more designed for comfort than show.

Maven